Evidence of meeting #12 for Finance in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cpi.
A video is available from Parliament.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, Mr. Ste-Marie.
Mr. Blaikie, you have three to three and a half minutes. Go ahead.
5:25 p.m.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Thank you very much.
I'd like to use the time to come back to this larger question. The committee is talking a lot about housing, and rightly so. It's important, and I'm looking forward to our future discussions on the topic, but we're also trying to get to the bottom of....
I think all of us are out there talking to Canadians, some of whom have experienced some real financial difficulty on the income side. There's been a whole conversation during the pandemic about pandemic benefits and getting businesses back open so that people can go back to work. But we're also seeing that, income notwithstanding, just on the cost side of people's household budgets, they're facing some serious challenges. There are challenges in housing and challenges with respect to grocery bills and home heating.
Given your knowledge of the Canadian economy, I'm wondering if you have other areas where there are upward price pressures that you think the committee should be looking at in the context of the study we have embarked upon.
5:25 p.m.
Chief Statistician of Canada, Statistics Canada
I think maybe I'll just leave you with some of the work that we've done to go deeper. You can get a certain picture, which I don't want to discount, when you look at the average of Canada or the provincial level, but when you start to disaggregate those data and you see how different portions of our society are doing.... The home ownership rate is very different for somebody from Asia than for a Black Canadian, for example. It's almost half for Black Canadians. You see that disparity in a very marked way.
I would just say, use some of those data to see how certain segments of our society are doing in comparison with the average, or in comparison with the provincial or national or overall population. Those data do exist. Those trends are very important to look at. I think the impacts of policies do have a disproportionate impact, depending on who they're targeted for. So—
5:30 p.m.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
With the last little bit of remaining time, are there any particular trends that you want to highlight briefly for us today, even if it's just directions you want to point us in with regard to particular trends you think are important for us to understand as we do this study?
5:30 p.m.
Chief Statistician of Canada, Statistics Canada
I mentioned one, of course, which is occupations and wages and who is occupying them. Women are disproportionately in the care economy, and single parents.... I would just say use some of those data available and you will be able to see not just the average but also who is working in a particular sector or who's impacted because of payments or other concerns they may have related to housing and their interaction with inflation.
I would just urge the committee to look at some of those aspects as well.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, Mr. Blaikie.
That is the time we have for today in this marathon session.
I want to thank Mr. Arora, Ms. Ertl, Mr. Peterson, on behalf [Technical difficulty—Editor] staff, the interpreters and this entire committee.
We did ask for these witnesses to come in on very short order late last week. Thank you for honouring our request and coming forward and being able to go through these three hours—it was a long session—to provide us with so much information. On behalf of the committee, thank you.
I look to the members, and we are going to adjourn at this time.